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Well, yeah. Gotta admit to singing the party line–if they cut off my pension, I’m toast. We pew-sitters are experts at talking big but not delivering; we’d like to see the System around us improve, but we won’t invest time or money to change it. Lessons to be read this weekend slap us around a bit–yet there’s Grace at the end, without which we can do nothing. Meanwhile, let’s be goaded into at least thinking about being known by our love. And humility.

MICAH 3:5-12 had nothing but sharp words for “the prophets who lead my people astray”. These are condemned by YHWH for selling out to the highest bidder. “(Zion’s) rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money, yet they lean upon the Lord…” As one who teaches and preaches for a salary and a pension, I’d say we were all in the same leaky boat! The systems in which we are planted reward us for going along. Do we proclaim the Voice of God while counting the rewards of our involvement?

St. Paul’s First Letter to the THESSALONIANS 2:9-13 reminds his friends there that he pursued his tent-making work “night and day” so as not to be a financial burden on them. As professional clergy, I’d like to skip over this part, since so many have cheerfully (?) supported me both then & now. Was Paul giving himself over to pride? We Thessalonians are encouraged to seek holiness by allowing Grace to flow over and around us. Unlike Micah, we don’t stand under the cloud of condemnation: God greets us new each morning, whether or not we lived “successfully” the day before.

The pre-Good Friday message from Jesus is found in MATTHEW 23:12. He warns his followers and the folks gathered ’round about the Scribes and Pharisees and us who interpret the harsher teachings of the Torah but then go our anointed and merry way. “They do all their deeds to be seen by others…to have the place of honor at banquets…to be greeted with respect in the markets…” (But I LIKE the VIP treatments!) I’ve gotta admit to all of the above, and maybe you do too.

So we all wear masks of some kind to hide away from scrutiny. We’re highly invested in the popular opinions of being well-liked and praised. “The light of self-promotion is always on in hypocrites, because people do not stop having opinions about us, and these opinions are utterly important to us.” (Allen Hilton, in FEASTING on the WORD, A 4:265) He goes on to say that “the antidote for hypocrisy is grace.” Tomorrow will be a better day!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Scripture texts to be read on the upcoming weekend can be accessed each Tuesday at horacebrownking.com

Probably the question most asked me during my career of ministry is “What will we look like in Heaven?” To which my only answer can be, “Like the Christ”. We humans of physical proportions can’t really imagine being within the presence of God. Texts to be realized on the upcoming weekend share the idea once proposed by Moses as incorporated into Jesus’ teachings of respect and aid for the Others. We can debate this–or we can just DO it.

LEVITICUS is generally overlooked as a system of archaic rules–but in 19:15-18 we have some expectations about our conduct as a worshiper of YHWH which may separate us from the business-as-usual crowd. Let justice be both to the poor and the great. Speak honestly about the Others, and don’t profit from your neighbor’s life. Do not hate or bear a grudge: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Barbara Brown Taylor considers this to be the connection between human behavior and identity, between the relationship with God and the relationship with the Neighbor. (FEASTING on the WORD, A 4:195ff) Note well that God doesn’t expect those in Holy Image to DO good, just to BE good!

Some scholars argue that I THESSALONIANS is the earliest writing in the Christian canon. 2:1-8 speaks about Paul’s accepted apostleship, which always has its source in Christ. We share the Grace which comes from God with all Neighbors as a God-given direction, aware again that we who bear a Holy Image are expected to live up to such an Image. “They’ll Know we are Christians by our Love”, gently sharing ourselves with others.

MATTHEW 22:34-46 describes yet another Holy Week confrontation of Jesus with the Pharisees, who were trying their best to entrap Jesus: “which commandment in the Law is the greatest?” Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…and a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The questioner(s) deal here with the centrality of Holy Living; beyond tradition, they seek to know about daily attitude.

Please note that the phrase, “You shall be holy”, is not a REQUIREMENT but a PROMISE! Followers of John Wesley often use the term “GOING ON to Perfection”. We’re not there yet, not in this life, but we have our spiritual eyes set on this goal of being in Christ. Without this Promise we’re stuck shuffling through the daily swamp; but with God’s help, we SHALL be Holy!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join us each Tuesday for a smidgen of the Lectionary readings for the upcoming Sunday; at horacebrownking.com

One of the oldest and most insidious sins is that of IDOLATRY. Whether we worship hunks of wood and gilt or name our god Mercedes or Chevrolet, it’s still with us. Scriptures to be heard this upcoming weekend deal with our proclivity to split our loyalty between YHWH and material objects. (These, of course, include ownership of land, “defending” it, and the conceit of thinking ourselves better than others.)

We first consider ISAIAH 45:1-7–when Cyrus of Persia defeated the Babylonians in 539 BC, he allowed the Judean captives to go “home” and rebuild their Temple. Isaiah of Babylon saw Cyrus as the Champion of the People, the hand of God at work. Why then should we assume that strangers are enemies? Is God in charge even in Persia? “The primary concern of the passage seems to be to deny any limits on God’s power.” (James Burns, in FEASTING on the WORD, A 4:175) “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god.”

I THESSALONIANS 1:1-10 is Paul’s appreciative greeting to his pals in Macedonia. He lauds them for their willingness to be inhabited by the Holy Spirit, and for accomplishing ministries so empowered: evangelism and other labors of love. Here again is the oneness of God celebrated: “the people of those regions report…how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God….” In our waiting for the Christ to be revealed, we become partners in mission, even within “the wrath that is coming.”

MATTHEW 22:15-22 is presented as yet one more Holy Week parable of Jesus, aimed primarily at the System in the Temple at Jerusalem. “Shall we pay taxes/homage to Caesar?” Jesus shows them a coin with the Emperor’s likeness, and famously says, “Return to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s, and return to God the things that are God’s.” It’s a fair question: how much can we pledge allegiance to the secular without diluting our dependence upon God? Are taxes used for military might, or to promote racism, legitimate? And shall we withhold the share which isn’t used for relief of the poor, or educating all children? Who’s in charge here?

Norman Podhoretz, in his excellent book THE PROPHETS, reminds us that “the battle will have to be fought first and foremost within ourselves and then in the world of ideas around us.” (page 359) “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” –Deuteronomy 6:4

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

You are invited every Tuesday to meet with the Scriptural passages to be read in worship during the coming weekend–at horacebrownking.com

Every so often, Vicki of Nashville, the one who creates the Lectionary readings, throws us some texts that just don’t seem to go together. That’s how it is for the upcoming weekend. I just can’t find the holy thread that knits them together; unless… Unless we find out that all these scriptural passages indicate that God loves the People, no matter what; and that God’s inviting all sorts of folks to the Heavenly Banquet! You and me too!

ISAIAH of Jerusalem usually writes in an “I TOLD you so!” frame–except for some verses. 25:1-9 are among these that glorify YHWH in the midst of exile and battle. “When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, You subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.” Isaiah announces a word of hope within harsh times, contrasting God’s steadfast love with the fatalism of the idols. Today’s hearers may well affirm this steadfast love, especially by caring for those who’ve given up hope.

PHILIPPIANS 4:1-9 is St. Paul’s farewell to his friends in the city of Philippi, written from house arrest in Rome. Under the shadow of execution, he can still be joyful, considering that “joy” is a shared feeling. He sees that Joy isn’t predicated on circumstance, but is a spiritual understanding that God’s in heaven, all’s right with the world. Does that mean that we don’t have to save ourselves? That we can trust that God’s in charge even in our exilic battles? Good News indeed! “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer with supplication and thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

In MATTHEW 22:1-10 we read about the Wedding Banquet, a story here laced with Matthew’s humanity. He sets this as a parable of Jesus, who in his last days is telling the System that other people are just as important. The meat of this for us today is that the Church is open to both “the good and the bad”: have we been exclusive in our charity and our dress codes? As refreshing as this parable should be to the hopeless and discouraged, it also reminds us not to be too smug: those awful tax collectors have the same entrance as we do, i.e. the love of Jesus.

“I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; ills have no weight, and tears not bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me” – ——Henry F. Lyte

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come with me every Tuesday as we explore scripture passages that will be heard on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com

Have you ever gone to a Special Place hoping for top-quality things, but were disappointed? ‘Course you have! Or have you made an extravagant gift, thinking that the recipient would provide stellar service in reaction to this? Scriptures heard on the upcoming weekend describe (?) the feelings of God–in human terms–about the slowness or disregard of the Goodness of Creation. We in the pew could see these instances as interesting observations from archaic times–or we could understand them as symptomatic of our own brokenness.

ISAIAH 5:1-7 is a “love song” about a holy vineyard, the People of Jerusalem and Judah, those left after the Assyrians had destroyed the Northern part of Israel. God has come expecting good grapes, but all God gets is WILD ones. God did everything right: planted choice vines, cleared the stones, even put up a hedge to keep away the riff-raff (the fence around the Torah?)… “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done to it?” And so God allowed it to be wrecked; will he start over? “[God] expected justice. but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!”

Paul’s Letter to the PHILIPPIANS (3:4b-14) expects the New Start, the Road to Perfection. The “planting” of Jesus is considered central to the Gospel; Paul considers everything about his own tradition to be lost: “I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…” This is part of his exhortation to the lifestyle cultivated by Jesus the Christ: to clear the stones, to prepare for God’s coming to rejoice over the Creation. To continue the metaphor–which Paul didn’t–the “hedge” described in the Older Testament could well be the bridle on our actions and words which would exclude the sinful deeds to which we’re all inclined.

In Jesus’ final days, MATTHEW portrays him telling another parable to the Jerusalem priests and other Pharisees. 21:33-46 is the story about the vineyard owner whose tenants take over the place, even to the point of murder. After many tries at reconciliation, the owner comes and evicts the tenants and gives charge of the vineyard to some who are more worthy. This is a pretty bald indictment of the prevailing authorities, telling them that they’re to be thrown out and a new system instituted. But have the current tenants now done all they could do to care for the planting of justice, forgiveness and peace?

We have one grapevine, infamously named by our neighbors as The Vine that Ate West Side. It’s huge! The tendrils are not content with staying in our own yard but have climbed a fence and abused several of our neighborhood maples! And this year it produced TONS of grapes…will they be sour? I’ve often observed in my own conduct the many stones–sometimes pebbles, often times boulders–which hamper the holy growth of the sacred vineyard within. And you??

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Each Tuesday we confront or are confronted by the Lessons to be heard on the upcoming weekend; join us at horacebrownking.com